Representations of Women in Music Videos

The representation of women is very diverse in the music industry, with stereotypes being around from as long as music videos have been produced.

Because my artist is a female producing music in a genre that is fairly male- dominated, I want her to be seen as a strong, self assured woman in my promo.

Women are often overly sexualised in music videos, seen dancing provocatively and dressed however it could be argued that this inst as damaging and oppressive as we think, ans that this is actually a representation  of women who express their sexuality and assert their femininity through what they look / act like. Unfortunatly this isn't a wide ideology in the western pop video industry, but some of my favorite artist celebrate their femininty and embrace the stereotypes, challenging them.

Some stereotypical portrayals of women in HipHop music videos are:

'Gangsta Hoes'

These women are shown to be less classy than the others, being rougher. They are shown in a much more sexily explicit way, dressing suggestively, sometimes skimpily and occasionally barely clothed at all. They are a great example of voyeurism in music videos as their bodies are often the main focus of their videos, however a lot of female artists who used to be connected to this negative depiction of women are now embracing it and using it to comment on how they are represented. This could be said for artists like Nicki Minaj  or Cardi B.

'Pop Princess'

These types of girls are usually seen in the pop genre and genrrally their target audience is younger girls and teens. Because of this they dress more modestly and appropriately for this audience. They also act more politically correct and possibly childish to reflect, relate to and attract them. 

taylor swift// katy perry

'Divas'

These are women who are portrayed as dominant and powerful in their videos. They can be shown in a sexual way but not in an explicit or sexually inappropriate way. Lots of close up shots as well as low angle shots are used to make them seem more imposing and powerful to the audience. In most videos 'Divas' are often wearing dark black clothing, crop tops, skirts and dresses.

I like the style of "divas" the most, as I think they hold the most power out of these three common representations of women. I think it's important that women are seen in videos to embrace their sexuality and not let society damage that/ sexualize it in an excessive way, so that is the setryotpye that my video will conform